Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 736

Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 736

This report is available at http://www.s-gabriel.org/736

Some of the Academy's early reports contain errors that we haven't yet corrected. Please use it with caution.

Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!

You asked for our opinion of <Shurock> as a 15th century Irish name. Here is what we have found.

We found no evidence of <Shurock> as given name in Ireland or elsewhere. We looked for similar-sounding given names and surnames, and found a few that might interest you.

<Shurrock> is a modern English surname, derived from a place called <Shorrock Green> in Lancashire. It is recorded as <Richard de Shorrok> in 1332 and <George Sharrocke> in 1682 [1]. If you move your persona to late-period England, a name like <John Shurrock> would be a reasonable choice.

<Sherlock> and <Shurlock> are also modern English surnames. They derive from an Old English nickname that meant "fair-haired". The name was carried to Ireland by English emigrants in our period, and it is found there in the Gaelic form <Scurlóg> and the English forms <Scurlock> and <Sherlock> [2]. (The slash represents an accent on the preceding vowel.) A Gaelic name like <Eoin Scurlóg> or its English form <John Shurlock> might be appropriate for a member of the Anglo-Irish Sherlock family in your period. (Note that the use of <Sherlock> as a given name is modern.)

<Shiric> is a mid-13th century English given name. We found it recorded in the Latinized form <Scirici> (in a grammatical form that means "Shiric's") [3]. It could be used in many ways; 13th century English used a very wide range of bynames to distinguish people with the same given name. Most commonly a man was known as his father's son (e.g. <Shiric Eylwyn> "Shiric, son of Eylwin) or by the place where he lived (e.g. <Shiric de Leghton>) [1, s.nn. Aylwin, Layton].

Finally, <Tairdhealbhach> or <Toirdhealbhach> is a common late medieval Irish given name, pronounced \TAHR-lakh\, where \kh\ represents the hard, rasping sound in the Scottish <loch> or German <Bach>. This one doesn't really sound much like <Shurock>, but it was the closest Irish given name we could find. Earlier in period -- before the 12th century -- it was spelled <Tairdelbach> and pronounced more like \TAR-dhel-vahkh\, where the \dh\ represents the "th" sound in <this>. It is often anglicized <Turlough>, and that form might have been used in an English context in the 16th century [4]. Period Irishmen were often known as their father's sons, so a name like <Tairdhealbhach mac Finn> would be appropriate for a late medieval Irish persona.

If any of these possibilities interests you, feel free to write us again for more information about constructing a name from the appropriate culture.

I hope this letter has been useful. Please write us again if any part of it has been unclear or if you have other questions. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Talan Gwynek and Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn.

For the Academy,

Arval Benicoeur


References

[1] Reaney, P. H., & R. M. Wilson, _A Dictionary of English Surnames_

(London: Routledge, 1991; Oxford University Press, 1995).

[2] MacLysaght, Edward, _The Surnames of Ireland_ (Dublin: Irish Academic

Press Ltd., 1985, ISBN 0-7165-2366-3).

[3] Selten, Bo, _The Anglo-Saxon Heritage in Middle English Personal

Names_, Volumes 1 & 2. (Lund, Sweden: Royal Society of Letters at Lund, 1979).

[4] O/ Corráin, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire, _Irish Names_ (Dublin: The

Lilliput Press, 1990).